New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-11-03
THE ENGLISH PEASANT.
IN HIS HABIT AS HE LIVES.

lyLo. 81. @. l.. FutuaM Sona
1bi. il a capital book. The author is one OF
those English clerGymen OF the Established
Chrrcl who live III couutry rectores on small in-
c,, . and interest themselves in the affairs Of all
the par,si:onerS. OF whom the greater number are
small tanners and peasants, Not that there are
really many country parsons of the caibre OF DR..
Jessopp He is one of the few who have learned to
win the confidence Of, perhaps the most conserva-
tive and mistrsstful class in the world. II is not
10 ba thought that this was done in the course of
Chos-ly manifestations The simple tru II is. that if
Dr. Jcssopp had only cultivated the peasants
who went TO church, he would never
have amassed tho inform ltion so delightfully."-
set forth IN these pregnant paUsrs. The author was
evidently equipped by Nature for the work of in
vesugatiol He was patient, good tempered,
broad of synpathies. tolerant even of virtual
pagan,s,n drck to get At the hidden sNings OF
action in the stolid rugged bovine creatures about
HIM Then too, he possessed one strong recomnen-
dation to the poor. lie was poor hlm'ei'. Heher-
ally speaking there is great gulf fixed betweon
the gentry and the poor IN English rural life The
latter regard the former as belonging TO quite
another race than their own. and if an attempt Is
made TO bridge the gulf they shrink into their
shells like tortoises and become Impenetraoe.
To open these shy and suspicious souls there must
be some sense of kinship. some feeling OF common
ground of suffering. The yong cuTGe struggling
TO maintain himself, and perhaps wife Also on ten
bhilIings week is by his Indulgence brought nearer
TO his poor parishOners. They can understand and
eympatbize with him one of themselves, and II
such a one is judicious he can draw them out and
get 10 know them. DR.. Jessopps cure is in East
Anglia and he has made so close a study OF rural
life IN Norfolk that know not whore else better
and more Trustworthy account OF it can be found
chan in these pages. The things he has motel are
Cfta 70 modern
economists but it will not do there ore TO reject
them for the author never offers conclusions with
out showing how they were reached and his OBJ
servatioD is so comprehensive that even his most
peculiar views must be treated respectfully. Ills
account of rural England is OF c,urss not general
bat particular 1t is the story of but one district.
but no doub m>ny OF the conditions are universal.
In regard to the broad niucuOns from his
researches thev arc in many eases such as TO JUS
tify gloomy anticipations. The best OF the peas
antry, he tells u.s. are being driven oil tae land
Some 20 TO tue towns. SOM enlgrate but IN mother
case do they return. tn m)vemsnt OF depletion
has several canses. The large-farmlny notion,
which was eDidsnic few. years ago. bat has now
passed Its elm TX tend,t TO oust III, p,asauts bv
absorbing ths snail farms ald reducing tho farm
employees TO the condition of "hand+' Finding
their ind .panlencs thrcatenHl and th) stability Of
their emplovinent the best gradually left the
country. Ano,hsr ca1ss OF miCratol an1 eni3ra-
tion the feeling that agriculture did not offer
career. 1t is not easy TO discover just where
Dr. Jessopp stands on this question, for while he
states positively that the absence Of career his
driven thousands o 1t, in another chapter he con-
tends that the cou1trv does Offer n sufficiently
promising career TO all who have some brains and
seli-deula and he cites number OF specific IN
stances IN support of tns position.
Probably the agricultural aborers tn enselve
generally h cid that the country did not offer them
career. he first effects Of the extension of edu-
cational advantages 200 have been 10 produce DIS
content aud rightly For one Of the worst features
of Encllsn rural life Is the way the pea ,ants arc
housed. Dr. Jessopp speaks with indignant
pbasis on this. re says plainly that civlllzntion
cannot be carried forward under the existing con-
ditions and he gives plenty of convincing Illus
tratlons Thus in place be says: You may
see whole rows of novels in one
Of which would any farmer In the
parish put his nag for single night without
indignant protest--rOws of novels where there
only two rooms. one above and one below. | could
point to three of these disgraceful tenemeDts i'm
medIately contiguous to one another, III each OF
whica, by strange coincidence. there were lately
father, mother aud seven chi lren all sleeping in
single room" 1t is no wonder That when young
men and women who have been reared in such
dens acqnire little Knowledge they become dis
custed and refuse TO stay lere these con htons of
lite exist Asto the TO- possibility for the shamefullv
bad housing Of agricultural ab)rers DR.. Jessopp Is
not perhaps so clear as could be wished Ac-
cording 10 him, the worst cases occur IN
what are called "open parishes" that Is,
where there is no lord of the manor, but the sur
rounding country belongs to a considerable number
of comparatively small owners or Ioas e-holders
These as rule are TOO poor to afford 10 bllld de-
49, lab oh,
the novels inhabited by the peasants are usually
the property OF some small tradesmau or local
usur r. who thinks only of getting seven per cent
interest on his investment and cares not rap how
his tenants pig together The agricultural depres-
sion. which has lasted several years now, has
shown the men who went IN for large holdings the
fallacy of their ideas Dr. Jessopp holds that largo
farming is condemned; that the limit of prottab
absorption has been passed; and that reaction Is
setting IN. Meantime, however. great mischief
has been DONE The peasantry have been driven
away. The small farmers have almost disap
peared. TIE housing of the peasants who re-
man is in most cases as bad if not
worse than ever Rural life has been beaten down
into deadly duness through the well-meant
efforts Of the evangelical party, which generation
ago was so horried at the pagan jollitv of the
people that it preached q crusade against amuse-
ment.
The village fairs and festivals. the games on the
green. the clubs. the sporting associations. have
all been banishcd 01e result Is that the British
peasant has become the most melancholy Of beings
Tin Already We never hear people laugh. They
snigger and grin sometimes, and then turn away as
II ashamed of Themselves; but they never laugh"
Aud the good doctor draws picture: you
may see half dozen bulking young men
literally sprawling in the ditch. smoking their
nd q IN ST chs N
the summer evenings. dong the only thing they
have any power of dolng-nothiug DO you wonder
If these Young fellows got tired of IT and vaguely
find it dulli" 1t would be nothing surprising if
they took to drink, and probably there would be a
great deal more drunkenness than there is, but for